Cooler Master NotePal U2 Plus Cooling Pad Review - PAGE 3

Given the size of the NotePal U2 Plus, I was surprised and impressed to feel how lightweight it is. The entire unit is constructed of aluminium, minus several rubber points for grip. This is a departure from many plastic notebook cooling pads on the market, due to the heat dissipation potential of the metal itself – think of it as an extra heatsink. It's assisted by the mesh of ventilation holes spread across the entire surface of the NotePal. As we will see, this is also where the two 80mm cooling fans will install.

There are three rubber friction points breaking up the aluminium surface – a large strip towards the bottom (with Cooler Master branding) and one strip on each of the upper corners that bends in a 'C' shape to form two feet. These will keep your notebook from sliding down the sloped surface.

Cooler Master touts the NotePal U2 Plus as supporting up to 17" laptops and while that is technically true, devices measuring less than 14" or so inches may have trouble making contact with any of the rubber points. While my 15.6" laptop was a perfect size for the NotePal, my 10.1" netbook could not even reach any of the rubber strips. Given the sloped surface of the NotePal, I can see sliding being a bit of an issue for laptops without high quality feet.

As mentioned earlier, the corner rubber pieces wrap around into a 'C' shape to become two feet for the NotePal. For extra stability, a metal strip connects the feet together. It props up the pad at an angle of about 10 degrees. We will see how ergonomic this is in further testing.

As we saw on the packaging, the NotePal U2 Plus has the ability to transform into a laptop carrying case. Essentially, this amounts to using the included elastic band to strap your laptop to the NotePal as it sits in the inner groove of the 'C-shaped' feet. Given that the band is the only real secure point, my laptop ended up moving side-to-side fairly often when walking with the unit. And forget about turning it upside down – you'd be met with a fairly damaged laptop if that was the case. Probably most disappointing of all, the installed notebook slightly sticks out the back of the NotePal, meaning there is no real 'holding point' in this configuration. The feet are too small to reliably hold onto and using the laptop itself as a holding point saw it gradually slide off the NotePal due the lack of friction from the elastic band. In the end, holding this 'carrying case' required an awkward (and painful) grip of the top plate, the bottom metal strip, and the laptop together at once.

In conjunction with the two rectangular rubber feet down the back of the 'C-shaped' feet, the NotePal is also advertised to stand vertically to save up space or for travel. Due to the tall stature of the pad in this orientation, I was definitely skeptical. To no surprise, numerous attempts at standing the NotePal had it falling backwards in an instant.

The NotePal U2 Plus ships with two 80mm fans that blow air directly onto the back of your notebook computer. Preinstalled into plastic enclosures, they are also pre-wired together into a single USB connector. Unfortunately, the cable is not braided, though it is sleeved nicely.

These are 11-blade fans that run at 0.25A and 5V. Removing four screws from the enclosure, we spot the fan model number of A8010-20RA-JN-F1.

To install the fans onto the NotePal, simply press down the button on the side of the enclosure and line up the four knobs into four holes on the pad itself.

Thanks to the abundance of these holes, the fans can be positioned almost anywhere under pad the surface. However, they cannot be oriented diagonally.

The fan cable can then be routed behind the rubber rectangular feet mentioned earlier. With the laptop placed onto the NotePal, the fans are not visible at all. As a plus, the USB connector ends with a female USB port, meaning the unit does not take away from the precious USB ports on your laptop.

With everything connected, let's see how much of a difference the NotePal U2 Plus makes in real-world usage.